THE latest salvo in a long-running legal saga between the Channel Islands Coop and its former chief executive began yesterday as the organisation sought to overturn a multi-million pay award.
The personal injury claim made by former Coop head Colin Macleod played out in court over several months in 2025.
In December, the Royal Court decided that board members had acted “in bad faith” by mounting a campaign to oust him from his position, failed in their duty of care and caused him psychological injury. When he came back from sick leave, he was dismissed – which the Royal Court found caused a relapse.
Mr Macleod worked for the Coop for a total of 30 years, working his way up from a management traineeship to becoming chief executive in 2010 and a director in 2017.
The Royal Court found last year that board members Jennifer Carnegie, Paula Williams and Carol Champion had mounted “a deliberate campaign to remove Mr MacLeod”, organised via a secret WhatsApp group.
The Coop is now appealing the Royal Court’s decision, claiming that the organisation could not have reasonably foreseen the psychological harm caused to Mr Macleod.
Advocate Jeremy Heywood, representing the Coop, said board members could not have known that Mr Macleod would suffer from depression.
In court last year, Mr Macleod had previously described how he would “shake violently” at the thought of work and suffered from insomnia.
The usual test of “actual foreseeability” had been failed, Advocate Heywood argued, and for an exception to kick in, employers have to act in a “extraordinarily egregious” way. This is rare, he added.
He cited two expert psychiatrists, who he said were not sure the harm was foreseeable, and claimed that it should not be surprising for a chief executive of a large company to have other people vying for his job, his expenses audited, and difficult appraisals.
However, Dame Julia Macur, sitting on the Appeals Panel, suggested that audits had happened within the context of Whatsapp “prompts and encouragements” between the board members.
The hearing is scheduled to last three days.
Advocate Michael O’Connell is representing Mr Macleod.
Michael Furness KC is presiding over the Court of Appeal, with Angus McCullough KC and Dame Julia Macur sitting.
